Posts Tagged ‘David Moyes’

 

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So, Louis van Gaal would feel betrayed if Manchester United were speaking to Jose Mourinho about the manager’s position at United, would he? He has just led United to a defeat at Sunderland which leaves them six points away from the top four who all now have a game in hand. The chances of finishing in the top four are now very remote so, therefore, his spending of ÂŁ258 million on new players was both wasteful and unwise.

As a United supporter of more than fifty years I would feel completely betrayed if United WEREN’T talking to Jose Mourinho, I couldn’t care less what van Gaal thinks! He is not the man for Manchester United and the only people who don’t understand this are van Gaal himself and Ed Woodward.

Just to be straight, I have absolutely no time for Ed Woodward who, since amazingly being placed in charge of football matters, has overseen one disaster after another.

Starting with the appointment of David Moyes, a man with no big club experience and no trophy winning experience, through the purchase of Marouane Fellaini for ÂŁ4 million more than was necessary due to a missed release clause, it continued with the joke that was the Angel Di Maria transfer, the sacking of Moyes AFTER it became mathematically impossible to finish fourth or better, giving the next manager no chance of a relatively successful start. (more…)

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(Are there really three candidates? It’s doubtful, but we look at them anyway!)

Jose Mourinho

Jose Mourinho is by far and away the most qualified for this prestigious position. He also has the added advantage of actually wanting the job! Currently out of work, there would be no compensation to pay and the transition from van Gaal to Mourinho would be seamless.

Having won titles and Champion’s leagues with different clubs in different countries Jose has proven on many occasions that he is the right man for the job.

Unlike David Moyes, he would not find the task daunting or too big and would relish the opportunity of pitting his wits against Pep Guardiola again, this time in Manchester. Unlike Louis van Gaal, his methods and tactics are not so dated that the players would have to bale him out if the going got tough.

Quite why he hasn’t been appointed just yet is a bit of a mystery to a lot of United fans. It certainly doesn’t look like this team is going to achieve Champion’s League qualification but, if they were to bring in Mourinho now, there would still be a possibility. Then it wouldn’t look quite as bad on van Gaal who, by the end of this season, will have spent two years and ÂŁ258 million on taking the team backwards! (more…)

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1. A Winning Mentality

Wherever Mourinho has been he has won trophies. Beginning with Porto back in his homeland all those years ago he took this unfancied team to Champion’s League glory. Obviously, domestically he had already won the Portuguese league in order to qualify.

Since leaving Porto for Chelsea he has had one success after another. In fact, since his first club, Benfica, back in 2000 he has managed clubs in a total of 765 games winning 505, a win percentage of 66.01%

It must also be remembered that this success hasn’t always been with the biggest clubs, but some of it has. This brings us to the next point:

2. Big Club Management Experience

Mourinho, as we know, has won the Champion’s League with Porto, in Portugal and Internazionale in Italy. He has also won domestic titles in Portugal, Italy, Spain and England. He has proven, unlike van Gaal and even Guardiola, that he can do the business when there is realistic competition around. (more…)

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With the exception of the last couple of games, Manchester United fans could be forgiven for wondering why the pursuit of Jose Mourinho for next manager has not gathered pace.

Any accusations directed at Mourinho’s teams for being boring have usually been tempered by the amount of trophies he has brought to the clubs in question. The likes of David Moyes in the past and Louis van Gaal presently have not, as yet, delivered any pots to go with their particular brand of “boring”, not at United anyway.

So, if it isn’t a boring playing style, what is the problem in hiring Mourinho? Is it because he has a fractious personality? A little like van Gaal? Is it because he falls out with fellow managers occasionally? A little like van Gaal? Maybe he falls out with players from time to time? A little like van Gaal? Mourinho has even been known to fall out with his staff! I would bet that van Gaal has also managed to do so.

It is getting to the stage at Old Trafford where I can’t actually see what the detractors have against Mourinho that couldn’t be levelled in equal measure against van Gaal!

The other excuse for ignoring Jose is that “he doesn’t project the correct image”. What does that even mean? (more…)

Leicester City v Chelsea - Barclays Premier League - King Power Stadium

If it is true that Jose Mourinho’s advisors have been contacted about him taking the Manchester United job, then the appointment needs to be announced fairly quickly.

According to the Manchester Evening News, talks have been held but nothing has, as yet, been agreed. Here’s the article.

Louis van Gaal has a little bit of credit in the bank thanks to the last two wins which, in my opinion, actually say more about the players taking control than the manager.

They went out to try and prove that they are not as bad as the manager appears to want to make them look. Van Gaal’s one good decision, (if indeed it was HIS decision), was to play players in their favourite positions, particularly Juan Mata.

Anyway, back to Mourinho. Apparently his heart is set on the United job and resistance to his arrival at Old Trafford is softening. This could be due to his polite and respectful silence since he left Chelsea, which could also be seen as a display of how much he wants to be the new man at Old Trafford. It could also be, however, that his detractors have seen the lack of any success brought by their first and second choices! (more…)

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Manchester United simply have to react to the news that Manchester City have signed Pep Guardiola as head coach for the next three years starting in the 2016/17 season.

To muddle through with van Gaal, another old man who is, currently, nowhere near as successful as his equally geriatric counterpart at the Etihad is suicidal nonsense.

City are grabbing the bull by the horns! Manuel Pellegrini could end this season with four trophies. Remembering what happened with Jupp Heynckes at Bayern Munich, he will surely win at least three! It is very unlikely, but it is possible.

Van Gaal will be very lucky if he wins one.

City are replacing an already successful manager with another, younger one. United aren’t even considering replacing their boring, unsuccessful manager yet.

United fans are already fed up with the boring football. They move like waves between cheering a United win, then booing the next insipid performance. After years of success it is hardly surprising that the Old Trafford faithful have turned on van Gaal. They turned on Moyes as well but both were given a fair crack of the whip even if they would both deny it if asked. (more…)

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(United’s other scorer, Daley Blind, would have been in this photo but he was out of position!)

Yet another “last game in charge” passes by for Louis van Gaal and he still remains in the Old Trafford hotseat! Mind you, if he doesn’t get sacked after losing games at home he is hardly likely to be removed after a 3-1 win away in the FA Cup.

It is reaching the stage now where nobody knows what he has to do to lose this job. Maybe wear a David Moyes mask, as he managed to lose the job with a better record than the Dutchman! Tonight though, was not going to be the last time the Dutchman was sat in the Manchester United dugout.

Having surrendered places in the Champion’s League, the Capital One Cup and the top four of the Premier League, United, at this precise moment in time, only have the Europa League and FA Cup left to play for. So both take on added importance, particularly as the Europa League winners will be granted entry into the Champion’s League next season. Having said that, the United faithful will take a trophy of any description at present!

Before the game Louis van Gaal had said that he hoped that the players would take their form and confidence from the training ground into the match. The problem with training is that it tends to be concentrated on the next opponents so in this case that would have been Derby County. (more…)

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If Manchester United are trying to distance themselves from Jose Mourinho and put him off the idea of becoming their manager, then they are probably being successful.

Mourinho, as manager of Chelsea, has been able to witness first hand the bungling Ed Woodward at work during the transfer windows. In his first one he managed to overpay for Marouane Fellaini, a player a lot of United fans still haven’t got used to seeing in a United shirt. He did this by missing a release clause expiry date in Fellaini’s contract with Everton, which meant paying ÂŁ4 million more for a player nobody wanted except David Moyes.

In his second window, having announced that United could afford to buy any player, he then proved what a superlative negotiator he was by spending ÂŁ15 million more than he needed to on Angel Di Maria, a fact proven when he was sold to PSG a year later for, guess what, ÂŁ15 million less than was paid for him.

At this stage in his career Mourinho, secure in his job at Chelsea, would have just laughed at the incompetence of it all. It probably confirmed to him that he had made the right decision in returning to Chelsea. He would have been aware that the transfer window jokes would not have surfaced had his friend, Sir Alex, remained in charge and that Fellaini would have remained at Everton and Di Maria would probably have gone elsewhere. Ferguson wouldn’t have fallen for buying him for a year while PSG served their transfer ban and then letting him go to them at the first opportunity. (more…)

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Manchester United have given Louis van Gaal more than enough rope to hang himself. In fact, they have given him sufficient to ensure that his feet are able to reach the floor.

According to the Guardian’s Jamie Jackson, Louis van Gaal’s performance as a manager is to be reviewed on a match-by-match basis. The article is here, if you wish to read it.

Yesterday I wrote about the fact that the Manchester United Circus is being run by the head clown. Today, I wish to revise that opinion. It is now a pantomime being run by the Dame. How else can this ludicrous decision be explained?

Van Gaal’s record speaks for itself in it’s level of failure. Even van Gaal himself has finally admitted that he is failing and doesn’t know what to do.

If the press is to be believed he has offered to resign at least once, an offer which should have been welcomed by United, because it may not come again. A resignation would have meant that United didn’t have to pay the remainder of van Gaal’s contract which the, now inevitable, sacking or mutual termination means they will.

Still, for a man who has managed to waste the millions that Woodward has managed to waste over the last three years, this is only a minor detail. (more…)

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(Louis explains why he is not under any pressure despite having spent ÂŁ258 million and having a record worse than David Moyes)

The source of the above statement is the Daily Mirror, (so it must be true!), and it is based on figures from December, 2015. Here is the article.

So the pressure on van Gaal has eased following a, so far, unbeaten January. Why is this?

The month started with a 2-1 win over Swansea who, quite frankly, were awful until around the 80th minute. They then decided to show a little bit of spirit and, almost immediately, scored an equaliser. Once again this demonstrated that United ‘s defence is not the castle wall that van Gaal seems to think it is. Bear in mind that this game was at Old Trafford and Swansea could well be relegated this season, meaning that this result was hardly a reason for ecstasy among the United faithful.

The next game of January saw the reds welcome Sheffield United to Old Trafford. Two divisions below Manchester United, an easy win was expected and should have been delivered. As it turned out it was a struggle from start to finish and again exposed the weaknesses in van Gaal’s team, but this time in the attacking third. It took a penalty in the 93rd minute to win this one.

After the game van Gaal made no friends by coming up with excuses about the opposition defending with ten men behind the ball, etc., etc. Guess what Louis, better teams than Sheffield United have employed those tactics in the past and Mancheater United have still been able to record some comfortable wins against them! (more…)